Soft-Assembled Multilevel Dynamics of Tactical Behaviors in Soccer

This study aimed to identify the tactical patterns and the timescales of variables during a soccer match, allowing understanding the multilevel organization of tactical behaviors, and to determine the similarity of patterns performed by different groups of teammates during the first and second halves. Positional data from 20 professional male soccer players from the same team were collected using high frequency global positioning systems (5 Hz). Twenty-nine categories of tactical behaviors were determined from eight positioning-derived variables creating multivariate binary (Boolean) time-series matrices. Hierarchical principal component analysis (PCA) was used to identify the multilevel structure of tactical behaviors. The sequential reduction of each set level of principal components revealed a sole principal component as the slowest collective variable, forming the global basin of attraction of tactical patterns during each half of the match. In addition, the mean dwell time of each positioning-derived variable helped to understand the multilevel organization of collective tactical behavior during a soccer match. This approach warrants further investigations to analyze the influence of task constraints on the emergence of tactical behavior. Furthermore, PCA can help coaches to design representative training tasks according to those tactical patterns captured during match competitions and to compare them depending on situational variables

Emergence of exploratory, technical and tactical behavior in small-sided soccer games when manipulating the number of teammates and opponents

The effects that different constraints have on the exploratory behavior, measured by the variety and quantity of different responses within a game situation, is of the utmost importance for successful performance in team sports. The aim of this study was to determine how the number of teammates and opponents affects the exploratory behavior of both professional and amateur players in small-sided soccer games. Twenty-two professional (age 25.6 ± 4.9 years) and 22 amateur (age 23.1 ± 0.7 years) male soccer players played three small-sided game formats (4 vs. 3, 4 vs. 5, and 4 vs. 7). These trials were video-recorded and a systematic observation instrument was used to notate the actions, which were subsequently analyzed by means of a principal component analysis and the dynamic overlap order parameter (measure to identify the rate and breadth of exploratory behavior on different time scales). Results revealed that a higher the number of opponents required for more frequent ball controls. Moreover, with a higher number of teammates, there were more defensive actions focused on protecting the goal, with more players balancing. In relation to attack, an increase in the number of opponents produced a decrease in passing, driving and controlling actions, while an increase in the number of teammates led to more time being spent in attacking situations. A numerical advantage led to less exploratory behavior, an effect that was especially clear when playing within a team of seven players against four opponents. All teams showed strong effects of the number of teammates on the exploratory behavior when comparing 5 vs 7 or 3 vs 7 teammates. These results seem to be independent of the players' level.We would like to thank the players who volunteered to participate in this study. We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Generalitat de Catalunya government project Grup de recerca en Sistemes Complexos i Esport (2014 SGR 975) and Project Symbiotic technology for societal efficiency gains: Deus ex Machina (DEM), NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000026, co-financed by Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) by NORTE 2020

The diagonal positioning of the goals modifies the external training load and the tactical behaviour of young football players

The aim of this study was to identify how positioning the goals in diagonal configurations on the pitch modifies the external training load and the tactical behaviour of young football players during smallsided games. Four teams of five outfield players and a goalkeeper played six small-sided games of five minutes’ duration in three different scenarios: 1) Control: goals placed one in front of the other; 2) Right diagonal goals: goals placed in the right-hand corner of the offensive half-pitch; and 3) Left diagonal goals: goals placed in the left-hand corner of the offensive half-pitch. The positioning-derived data from each player were collected with 10-Hz GPS units and were used to compute external load and tactical variables. Regarding the external load variables, differences were mainly focused on distance covered while walking in defence and game pace (variability), with higher values for the diagonal scenarios. Also, the length/width ratios in offence and defence were most likely lower in diagonal scenarios. In conclusion, the results showed that players’ adaptations to the environmental constraints of positioning the goals diagonally were the enhancement of the width team variable and the variability of the length

The diagonal positioning of the goals modifies the external training load and the tactical behaviour of young football players

This study aimed to identify how positioning the goals in diagonal configurations on the pitch modifies the external training load and the tactical behaviour of young football players during small- sided games. Four teams of five outfield players and a goalkeeper played six small-sided games of five minutes’ duration in three different scenarios: 1) Control: goals placed one in front of the other; 2) Right diagonal goals: goals placed in the right-hand corner of the offensive half-pitch; and 3) Left diagonal goals: goals placed in the left-hand corner of the offensive half-pitch. The positioning-derived data from each player were collected with 10-Hz GPS units and were used to compute external load and tactical variables. Regarding the external load variables, differences were mainly focused on distance covered while walking in defence and game pace (variability), with higher values for the diagonal scenarios. Also, the length/width ratios in offence and defence were most likely lower in diagonal scenarios. In conclusion, the results showed that players’ adaptations to the environmental constraints of positioning the goals diagonally were the enhancement of the width team variable and the variability of the length

GA4GH: International policies and standards for data sharing across genomic research and healthcare.

The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) aims to accelerate biomedical advances by enabling the responsible sharing of clinical and genomic data through both harmonized data aggregation and federated approaches. The decreasing cost of genomic sequencing (along with other genome-wide molecular assays) and increasing evidence of its clinical utility will soon drive the generation of sequence data from tens of millions of humans, with increasing levels of diversity. In this perspective, we present the GA4GH strategies for addressing the major challenges of this data revolution. We describe the GA4GH organization, which is fueled by the development efforts of eight Work Streams and informed by the needs of 24 Driver Projects and other key stakeholders. We present the GA4GH suite of secure, interoperable technical standards and policy frameworks and review the current status of standards, their relevance to key domains of research and clinical care, and future plans of GA4GH. Broad international participation in building, adopting, and deploying GA4GH standards and frameworks will catalyze an unprecedented effort in data sharing that will be critical to advancing genomic medicine and ensuring that all populations can access its benefits

SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity are associated with genetic variants affecting gene expression in a variety of tissues

Variability in SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity between individuals is partly due to genetic factors. Here, we identify 4 genomic loci with suggestive associations for SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and 19 for COVID-19 disease severity. Four of these 23 loci likely have an ethnicity-specific component. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) signals in 11 loci colocalize with expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) associated with the expression of 20 genes in 62 tissues/cell types (range: 1:43 tissues/gene), including lung, brain, heart, muscle, and skin as well as the digestive system and immune system. We perform genetic fine mapping to compute 99% credible SNP sets, which identify 10 GWAS loci that have eight or fewer SNPs in the credible set, including three loci with one single likely causal SNP. Our study suggests that the diverse symptoms and disease severity of COVID-19 observed between individuals is associated with variants across the genome, affecting gene expression levels in a wide variety of tissue types

A first update on mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19

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